The Job Board

I stared at my laptop screen. The charging wire was coiled around me like a snake, and my back ached from sitting beside the wall. The hot afternoon light fell through the curtains, and the single ceiling fan wasn't enough to prevent me from sweating in buckets.

Tara had taken up the whole bed. She was sprawled around it, snoring loudly. Her dress was soaking wet, and her hair was plastered to her face. But she slept peacefully.

But I couldn't.

Before Tara went to sleep she had given me the link to a site related to information regarding Unet called UnetHub. It was designed in a very old-fashioned way. If anyone who didn't play Unet looked into it they'd probably think it's an abandoned forum site.

"It has everything," Tara said before she went to sleep. "Help guides, stories, job boards, rankings, properties for sale…check it around to see if you can find anything."

I was only interested in a few things. Properties, guns, and jobs - the main three things that will help wipe off the grin on Vincent's face. When it was half past noon I finally decided to stop searching and take a shower. Apparently, there wasn't an option for hot or cold water, so the hot water that came out only made me feel worse.

When I came back Tara was browsing my laptop while yawning.

"Woke up from your nap?" I asked, wiping my hair and sitting beside her.

"Did you find what you need?"

"I just wanted to get an idea on how to buy properties. I got what I wanted."

"Buy properties? For what?"

I smiled. "For a little plan of mine. But prices here are high. And I'm not willing to invest all my savings to buy property. We need a different plan to earn cash. Tell me how the job board works."

"This thing?" she scrolled to a section that looked like the forum. "It works more like a job platform. Other Unet players post jobs, and we do it. Even we can post jobs or hire people."

"What kind of jobs do we have?"

"You can filter the results. There's car theft, robbery, assassination, extractions, heists…we can do anything we want. Each job has its rules, and only some classes can apply for jobs, but I'm a gangster and you are a businessman so I think we can fit into most categories."

I nodded. "How do you apply?"

She moved her cursor to the orange arrow on the left, and it took us to an interface that looked like it was designed to write an email.

"We write a request letter and bid our price. Our client reads it, and if they want to hire us, they send a message to our phone. I can apply to some if you want?"

I groaned as I stood up and then fell to the bed. I was almost afraid to let Tara apply for jobs, but the weariness of the day was slowly eating me. "Apply for anything that the two of us can do. Try to keep killing people to a minimum."

She gave a smile. "Oh, I can do that."

"And order some more food if you want," I said, grabbing the pillow. "I'll pay for them."

I couldn't say I slept well, but I dreamed of going to watch a movie with Tara. It was a fun dream. There was no pressure from Unet. Just me and my beautiful girlfriend on a movie date. It felt nice…at least until someone nudged me.

"It's seven at night," it was Tara. When I opened my eyes I saw her perched above me. I yawned and rubbed my eyes.

"I ordered some food. It's almost here."

The feeling of weight under my eyes faded away. My laptop was still plugged into the charger.

"I'll pick it up. Did you find some jobs?"

Tara nodded. "Got even better news. I even got a letter from a client."

"What's the job?"

"To rescue a target from 20 hitmen."

I stared at her.

I shouldn't have slept. I brought this on myself.

"Don't give me that look," Tara pouted. "We could easily do that. We just need to rescue the target and get out."

"With 20 hitmen on our back. We don't even know which level they are!"

"We'll figure something out."

I got down from the bed. Suddenly I wanted to go back to sleep.

"Can we cancel the job?"

"Are you nuts? It's rare for new people like us to get jobs! It's almost from a client with good ratings. She even invited us to meet her."

"So it's a she?" I walked towards the door. "Just cancel it Tara. We'll go for an easier job like stealing a car. You might be used to shit like this, but I'm not."

I closed the door, and when I turned back I froze. On the carpark, parked right beside our bike, was the black Mercedes.

The door of our next room was slightly open, and I heard the loud sound of the TV. It was playing some metal song.

How the fuck didn't I hear them come?

I was about to move in quickly, but the front door creaked open at the same time, and one of the larger men came out. He was shirtless, smoking a cigar, and when he saw me, he gave a grin and stepped sideways.

"Boss wants to see you."

I stood, frozen on the spot. They couldn't harm anyone in safe zones. And I couldn't pussy out and ignore him. That would only prove I was scared for Vincent.

I levelled my eyes with the big man, and stepped in.

"Oh neighbor, how nice of you to come see me."

Vincent was sitting by the bedside, completely naked. Paola was on the bed, heaving, also naked. It seems they had just finished their fuck session.

"Gordon, be a good boy and pick our camera will you?"

The large man beside me nodded and walked to the TV. Behind the large screen he pulled a small device the size of my thumb.

"You see neighbor, I hate betrayal the most," Vincent said, grabbing the camera and twirling it in his fingers. "That is why I've placed cameras inside the rooms of all my….uh.." he stood up and slapped Paola's butt. She winced. "Associates. And don't blame poor Paola here because she isn't supposed to talk about it. That's our agreement, wasn't it Paola?"

The woman's eyes locked with mine, and then moved away. "Y-yes."

"So imagine my surprise when you and your girl sneak into her room and start asking about me. All you were supposed to do was to give her one of your cheeseburgers."

"This is a safe zone. You can't hide cameras in people's rooms."

"Ah someone didn't read the agreement correctly. I can't do anything to the people here without their consent. For example, I can't kill you right here, though I really wish I fucking could. But, with Paola we had an agreement. She agreed to have a camera inside the room so…here we are."

The bulky man stepped beside me. He kept a hand on my shoulder.

"You don't need to put your little snout in other people's businesses Alex," Vincent smiled. "I have associates, and I know all about you. I know how that girl in the next room convinced you in an ATM to help her. That's a nice relationship you have there. Did you fuck her yet?"

I gritted my teeth. I almost wanted to punch the little shit. But everything had a time.

I brushed off the hand of the larger man and turned back. When I walked away I could hear Vincent's voice in the distance.

"Better not find you sneaking in this room again Alex!"

The door shut as soon as I was out. I stood there in silence and then came back to my senses when the delivery man honked his horn downstairs.

When I picked up the food and came back up, Tara was near my laptop, looking grumpy.

"Did you cancel the job?"

"I'm almost about to," she muttered, angrily scrubbing her fingers on the trackpad.

"Don't," I sat beside her and pulled back the laptop. "I'm in the mood to face 20 fucking hitmen."